Chapter 18: The Cold Iron District

“The hell is that?”

Tristan couldn’t help but prepare himself; the sight of the strange spell alone would make anyone suspicious. No one had ever used a dark spell like that before.

[Fire Brigade]

’I need to be careful…’

Tristan thought, covering himself with hundreds of miniature sprites, it was his strongest spell, but it was likely going to be his last; he could no longer solve another spell formula even if his life depended on it.

He was on the verge of passing out.

“I see where you’re going with… but that isn’t really going to help you.”

I replied, clapping my hands together as the serpent that coiled around my body began to condense energy into its mouth.

KRAK!

A massive explosion rang out from its mouth, and with it came a powerful ray of darkness that was heading straight towards Tristan.

“Defensive formation!”

Tristan quickly reacted, faster than I expected, as all his sprites began to position themselves in front of him, each one casting a lesser version of firewall.

But due to the sheer amount of them, it was also more effective than a normal firewall.

CRASH!

But it was useless, the dark ray completely pierced through the multiple layers of fire, and was now heading to Tristan’s completely undefended body.

“F-Fuck…”

Tristan cursed, but before the beam could hit him, I flicked my wrist to the ground, redirecting it to instead detonate the floor that Tristan was standing on.

BOOM!

A powerful smoke cloud appeared from the impact, and when it disappeared, Tristan was on the ground, unconscious but still alive.

That was an achievement in itself, even if he didn’t get hit by the full force of the dark serpent’s attack; the fact that he managed to sustain only small bruises was something that he should be proud of.

“That’s that…”

I hummed, dispelling the dark serpent and looking back into the crowd to find Evelina.

But to my disappointment was nowhere to be found.

Was my performance lackluster…?

Was she disappointed some random son of a duke provoked me?

Either way… I shouldn’t get too worked up about it for now… she just may have well been busy… I hope.

***

I left the unconscious Tristan for the crowd to handle, using the brief distraction to easily teleport myself away. I’d rather not get swept up by random students trying to befriend or recruit me due to my performance.

I still needed to get my current task for the day over with.

Obtain the amulet of exorcism.

A simple backup, just in case Beelzebub’s protection isn’t enough to keep me safe, even at my current level, fighting a demon prince was far too difficult.

And where was the ring located? worn by a complete maniac in the city slums.

[Chaos Step]

I reappeared where I needed to be, just by the entrance to the slums themselves.

And just as you would expect in a Renaissance era and industrial revolution kind of setting, the slums themselves looked like it could be the place for a completely another story entirely.

The Cold Iron District.

“Get out of the way!”

A sudden stranger bumped into me, coming out of the slums and into the city proper, being chased by what looked like a merchant.

“Definitely what I expected…”

As I entered the district itself, I was once again reminded by the industrial revolution aspect of the city, because unlike the academy’s royal and magic-filled students.

The slums were the complete opposite, filled with gunpowder and all sorts of abstract technology that you could think of.

Some are even worth looking at.

’Magic is nice and all, but getting an extra weapon would definitely be great…’

BOOM!

An explosion rang out from a random shop on the left, but most paid it no mind, in a slum filled with gunpowder and tinkering as its main living source.

Constant failed inventions and experiments were commonplace.

“Hey… the hell is a brat doing here?”

One of the beggars just by the side of the road spat out.

I was already attracting attention due to my academy attire… and to them, that same attire was the biggest reason for their hardship.

I had now become public enemy number one, but none of them were brave enough to act on it.

“Here it is…”

I stopped by a random, unassuming apartment complex just by a dark alley, with all sorts of vermin coming out from the drains and the stench of cigarette smoke filling the entire area.

“Reminds me of my days of still being a rookie…”

I laughed, just because I managed to get rich at the end of my career didn’t mean I wasn’t able to experience hardship.

In fact… my old apartment looked eerily similar to this one.

I was just right at home.

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